Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II

Records of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF)

On February 13, 1944 Headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces, known also as SHAEF, replaced and absorbed the planning group called the Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command, or COSSAC, that had been established in April 1943. COSSAC and SHAEF, as as integrated U.S.-British organizations responsible to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, successively had the task of integrating the British forces and the American forces for operations on the Continent. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was designated as the Supreme Allied Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces, and on his arrival in England from the North African Theater in January 1944 he became also the commanding general of the European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA).

The staff organizations of SHAEF and ETOUSA were, however, distinct. Each headquarters as a rule had its own staff sections manned by separate personnel. The staff organization in SHAEF was headed by the Chief of Staff. SHAEF directed the operations of several subordinate interallied headquarters, including separate commands for ground, air, and naval operations.

SHAEF was located at London until August 1944; at Versailles, France, August 1944-May 1945; and at Frankfurt, Germany, May-July 1945. On July 14, 1945, SHAEF was discontinued, and its civil-affairs and military-government functions were assumed by the Allied Group Control Council, in Berlin. Some of its United States components continued in Headquarters United States Forces, European Theater.

During 1944-1945 operated SHAEF Missions that were established in liberated nations to represent the Supreme Allied Commander and to maintain contact with these countries without interfering with military operations. These missions were located in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. As combined organizations they were disbanded in July 1945 with the termination of SHAEF, but as national missions some of them continued as late as 1947.